Grammar

Komiški has 19–20 consonants against 25 in the standard. No č, š, ž, lj, dž or đ. In their place: c (covik, cudo), ś (śunce, beśida), ź (źena, Komiźa), j (judi, jubov). ć survives.

Vowels: long a → o (glova, don), long o → u (brud, nuć). The dialect is Ikavian: lipo, vrime, dite.

All komiški text in this app is written without s, z, š, ž or č — in their place stand ś, ź and c. That is not our choice but a description of the facts, and it was best explained by Joško Božanić himself, in the note to Perušće besid (1975):

“Komiža cakavism, like cakavism in general, is characterized by a reduced consonant inventory, so that the sounds [dž], [đ], [lj] and [č] do not exist at all, while [s] and [š], and [z] and [ž], are replaced by the softer sounds [ś] and [ź].”

In that book he nevertheless printed s/š and z/ž — and said why:

“However, for technical reasons the phonetic specificity of this speech could not be rendered graphically in a more adequate way.”

In other words: 1975 typesetting could not render those sounds, so he restored them graphically by reference to standard Croatian. Our orthography does the reverse — it recovers what could not be printed then. In his later work, from the Komiški dikcionar onward, Božanić writes ś and ź himself.

The classic Čakavian three-accent system: short falling (ȁ), long falling (ȃ) and the Čakavian acute (ã) — long rising. There is also pre-tonic length (ā), but no post-tonic length.

Stress is free and keeps its old positions — no Štokavian retraction: beśȉda, źenȁ, ferôl, bonãca.

Measured acoustically (one speaker): short falling ≈ 102 ms, long falling ≈ 234 ms, acute ≈ 255 ms, and pre-tonic length ≈ 292 ms — longer than any accent.

Most conspicuous: no long plural (pūti, brȍdi, mȉśi — never -ovi/-evi), the genitive plural is -ih, and DLI plural are all -ima.

Hypocoristics in -e/-o extend the stem with -et-/-ot- in oblique cases: Ĩve → Ĩvota, Mike → Miketa — „vidili śmo Ivota“, „iś Ivoton“.

The instrumental singular is -un — perhaps the most recognisable ending in the dialect: rūkūn, źenūn, glōvūn, „iś otun bracerun“.

The genitive plural varies between -Ø and -ih (beśīd, mrīź vs ūrih, kēnjih), and DLI plural between -ami and -ima with no clear rule.

ca = what (the dialect is named after it), ku = who, di = where, kal = when, zoc = why, koko = how much.

Personal: jo, ti, un, ona, mi, vi, oni. Note the datives von (to you pl.), non (to us), njin (to them), njuj (to her), and the accusative jih (them).

Demonstratives: ovī, otī, onī; neuter tu = that. Clipped: vi, vo, va — „Ku me vo zove?“

The infinitive is always apocopated — never -ti/-ći: bīt, dūć, vidit, reć, pūć, vaześt, jiśt, lavurat.

The 1st person singular present ends in -n (jeśon, molin, govorin), and the 3rd plural often in -du (gredu, ćedu, straśidu śe).

There is no imperfect and no aorist. The past is carried by the perfect with an -l participle (duśal, imol, ukrol), frequently with the auxiliary dropped, and by the historical imperative used as a narrative tense — the signature device of the Komiža facenda.

Questions without “li” — the verb comes first: „More un tu?“, „Je tako?“, „Jeśte vi razbili ferol?“

ol + genitive replaces adjectives and possessives: font ol śpodih (jack of spades), manica ol vrot (door handle), kvarat ol ure hoda (a quarter-hour's walk).

za + infinitive expresses purpose instead of a “da” clause: „źa uźeć śviću“, „źa śe obrit“.

Prepositions: iś/iź = with, pul = towards, ol = from, pol = under; and u + accusative also marks location: „un śpi u śvoju pośteju“. The construction u + genitive means “at someone's place”: „u Marjanovih“.

Negation: ni (is not), nimo (there is none), nonke (not even).

jedon / jelna, dvo / dvi, tri, cetiri, pet, śeśt, śedān, ośan, devet, deśet, jelnadeśte (11), dvonaśte (12), dvodeśet (20), cetardeśet (40), pedeśet, śtu (100), dviśta, triśta.

The hour is ura — „Deśet urih je, deśet i pul je“ (it's ten o'clock, half past ten). A year is godiśće or lito („cetardeśet lit“), a week śetemona, and Christmas Bolnji Don.